No Hogwarts Legacy GOTY Nominations Is a Travesty

Hogwarts Legacy was one of the best games to come out in 2023, but was not nominated for GOTY at The Game Awards when it easily made the cut.

[isarai]

It seriously is, honestly the highlight of the year for me personally for releases

[Epicor]

Game-wise it was pretty mediocre though. It captured that HP magic in Hogwarts nicely but after few hours the game feels like a chore. Especially after leaving the castle. I was never expecting this to be a true GOTY contender.

[kythlyn]

The discourse around this game really drowned out most other conversation.

[RpgSama]

Not the sales conversation, because it sold like gangbusters, I think they just did not want to deal with all the harassment and Twitter mob, which unfortunately means that such a great game was not nominated.

[gold_drake]

yeh its quite odd.
we could have easily swapped out some games with others for GOTY

[LordoftheCritics]

RE4 could have easily been swapped out.

[--Onilink--]

I get that some people dont like Remakes being there and there is some point to it.

But I think it also severely undermines the fact that great remakes are not an easy project to do by any means. Not just because its almost always impossible to please everyone because there is an audience that wants 0 changes and one who wants a ton of them.

And walking that tightrope how knowing what things to keep the same, where to introduce quality of life changes that dont clash with legacy stuff, identifying which parts havent ahed well and its just nostalgia keeping them up there, etc, all while basically having to redo every single asset for the current tech…

There is a reason why even now we still see so many poor remakes and remasters, its certainly not easy. And yes, having a great game as a base helps a lot, but that also makes it so everything in the remake is held up to higher standards too.

So yeah, when its a remake (emphasis on remakes, not remasters) of the quality of the REmakes and especially RE4, I dont mind seein them getting this kind of nomination

Also, if it did got swapped, for me, I would have easily put HiFI Rush or even FF16 before Hogwarts anyway (not that I didnt enjoy the game ) i honestly would even put HiFi Rush right now over Mario Wonder or SP2 (which are great games too)

[Ricdog]

Agreed, its not even the best remake of the year. That honor goes to Dead Space.

[goldwyncq]

Nope. It made an already legendary game even better and that's a damn fine achievement.

[RaiderNation]

@-Onlink-

Then give it its own category. I just don't think it's fair for a Remake to steal a spot away from a new IP or a high quality sequel.

RE4 wasn't even my favorite Remake this year. That would be Dead Space Remake. And if we're going to nominate remakes, hell where was Metroid Prime? It scored a 94 on metacritic. Why didn't it get nominated for anything? The criteria just seems wildly inconsistent.

As for Hogwarts Legacy, I'm not mad that it wasn't nominated for GOTY because the field was highly competitive.. But to not be nominated for anything at all is ridiculous! It easily couldve/shouldve been nominated for best art direction, best soundtrack, best narrative, etc.

[generic-user-name]

@RaiderNation

"And if we're going to nominate remakes, hell where was Metroid Prime? It scored a 94 on metacritic. Why didn't it get nominated for anything? The criteria just seems wildly inconsistent."

My guess is that DS remake and MP were both 1:1 remakes, just visual overhauls. Whereas RE4 Remake is a reimagining like RE2/3 Remakes.

[Levii_92]

@Ricdog Lol F$*K no! Dead space was almost exactly the same, RE4R especially with Seperate Ways now is a miles more compelling and interesting package and it absolutely deserves a GOTY nom.

[Ricdog]

@Levii_92

What is the point of a remake (besides being a cash grab)? RE4 remake can’t even replace the original…which is the whole point of a remake (make the game again).

Dead Space remake makes the original obsolete, whereas RE4 remake does not. It’s better in graphics and restrictions, but ruins precision and pacing.

Ironically, REmake for GameCube is the perfect example. It completely makes playing the original Resident Evil (ps1 era) redundant. No one cares about replaying the original when the remake for GameCube improved upon it in every way. RE4 remake fails to do the same and by being different is actually just an average shooter by todays standards. Heck it’s probably not even better than The Evil Within, the real sequels to RE4 from the creator

[neutralgamer1992]

--Onilink--

IT'S A REMAKE

end of story. yes not all remakes are equal in quality but a remake is just copying homework and overtaking games which start from ground up

maybe there should be a seperate award for best remake & best remaster of the year but neither should take a spot on GOTY

[Relientk77]

A childhood dream come true in an amazing game. The most memorable game I've played this year, from the spells, locations, decorating your own living space, the characters, and interacting with fantastic creatures. it was all wonderful. A magical adventure I will never forget and can't wait for a sequel.

[senorfartcushion]

They made loads of Harry Potter games when we were kids? They made two Lego games that released on ps4 and Xone.

[Kosic]

There's a huge difference in a lego game slapped with potter paint to a game made in the wizard world..

[senorfartcushion]

Kosic

Lol

[Snookies12]

I keep realizing I need to go through this, lol. I only got about 10 hours in. Was doing a lot of exploration rather than the main quests though. It's a struggle trying to find the time to actually play through all the amazing games I have in my backlog. This is definitely near the top though!

[QuantumMechanic]

*Trajedy?

[QuantumMechanic]

**Tragedy? (including my spelling, apparently, lol)

[phoenixwing]

People write articles about how starfield got snubbed but hogwarts legacy is the true one that got snubbed. It's miles better than starfield.

[cammers1995]

Exactly.

[Games1st]

Just a generic open world mid game.

[andy85]

Hate this new 'mid' word. Never seen it applied to a game that was actually mid.

[senorfartcushion]

The writing was hokey and the open world was lacking in any compelling content or "mid."

[JEECE]

The people who say "mid" now are the same people who said "meh" a few years ago. Inevitably, it's more informative about the person saying it than the thing they are describing.

[cammers1995]

That would be starfield

[Stanjara]

Highest selling game of 2023... No award nomination.

Goof Keighley saving trans lives I see.

[AdonisIsBeast]

Trans isn’t even real. The only scientifically accurate anomaly is “intersex.” Which 99% of people who claim that they are “trans” are not intersex.

[senorfartcushion]

Gender is not sex, Adonis, ya big virgin.

Calm down and study first.

[anast]

"Goof Keighley saving trans lives I see."

This is one of the strangest fetishes I have seen, it is mixed with part metaphysical voyeurism and part deep biological concern toward fitness. I suppose it is the Pope reading a porn mag on the toilet...

[Stanjara]

The whole Twitter shtick was that Hogwarts is killing trans lives, please don't buy it.

That's why I wrote that.

[shinoff2183]

I don't think dude did it. I think it said 120 journalists choose.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

These nominations are made by journalists, and gaming journalists don't care as much about games as social activism. In their mind, snubbing Hogwarts Legacy is a protest against J. K. Rowling's views on trans-women.

[babadivad]

Exactly this.

[Daeloki]

From what I heard, review-wise and from friends too, it was a very mediocre game anyway, not necessarily bad, just not very memorable. The main thing that carried the sales was the nostalgia from millenials who can't seem let go of a less than mediocre world written by a less than average writer.

That said, I acknowledge it was their first game, and that they have potential. I would be interested in seeing maybe an original fantasy rpg by them.

[Shane Kim]

The world and the school is awesome. I disliked the story and the constant spell swapping.

[senorfartcushion]

Your right in your opinion.

I'm a millennial and I don't even like Harry Potter, but I wanted to be "in that world" as the nerds like to say. The issue for me is that it's a video game, and, eventually, everything repeats.

The baddies are the red guys, beat the red guys because they want almighty power blah blah. You beat the bad guys and it doesn't end properly because a badly-thought out endgame HAS to come after. It was very industry-trend.

[OhReginald]

It just means this year was packed with great games. But what I want to know is how come RE4 remake gets to be a nominee but they didnt allow demon's souls remake in 2020 to be a nominee since it was a remake. Weird as hell.

[Shane Kim]

Because one is a Sony game.

[BanginTunes]

RE4 is remixed enough and has gameplay changes to justify being up there. Demon's Souls has no gameplay changes, only graphics and sound. 2020 had better games to nominate too.

[VersusDMC]

Maybe because that year had a lot more better games than demon souls? Or that it was actually just a visual upgrade to the original?

RE4 had substantial gameplay mechanics added to it like parries, stealth, ammo crafting, aim movement, on the fly weapon switching, etc...
To call all remakes the same is kinda dumb.

[GhostScholar]

This is the problem with the game awards. Early games are forgotten and later games sometimes aren’t even considered. GK is the biggest tool in all of gaming media, along with Greg miller.

[Inverno]

Apparently games too late to nominate are then considered the following year, but what's the point then when the next year brings games that will be more relevant in peoples minds? I always thought they should do the show in January.

[andy85]

Let's face it it didn't do enough to be there. Elden ring and Forbidden West were released the same month and werent forgotten. Simply because they did enough to be there

[shammgod]

Greg Miller is a scum bag and a coward

[garos82]

I agree. It was a fantastic game with clearly alot of love put into it and unique enough to warrant at least a nomination

[senorfartcushion]

They crunched, so it couldn't have been that loving.

[jambola]

They needed a cosby suite
Then the game awards would consider them

[andy85]

I really enjoyed the game but knocking any of those 6 off is a mean feat. There was probably 50+ games that scored higher this year. As much as people say scores don't matter an 84 isn't getting nominated with the great year we've had. The certainly given themselves a chance to build on the first game though because it was incredibly successful

[Profchaos]

I enjoyed it my one criticism is the level gating took me right out of the moment have a big story reveal only to want to jump straight into the next mission and be told that I didn't have a high enough level go fly a broom or brew something honestly hurt the pacing for me. It was especially worse as I was playing with someone watching who really got into the story to.

I'm not against side content (I got 100% in rdr2 so I'm well versed in doing 100 hours plus of side content) but don't ruin that story pacing

[senorfartcushion]

Jedi Survivor was enjoyable for its side content. I managed to get 99% on that game. The last 1% I will find, but I'm done for now. The Harry Potter game was just copying and pasting industry trends:

Find the loot, combat rooms, find the collectables.

[StarkR3ality]

Jedi survivor barely fucking ran even after updates. The performance in the game is unacceptable. I've heard it's better on console, but my PC runs Alan Wake 2 at 1440p max settings over 100fps with DlSS quality and frame gen.

Meanwhile on Jedi Survivor I sometimes get drops down into the low 40's with horrible traversal stutter, and that's trying to play on medium with no Ray Tracing. Absolute shambles and the publications that just gave it a pass for those issues are shit heads.

[senorfartcushion]

I mean it was just OK.

The graphics were good, but the story was the same old, the writing was finicky and the open world was too packed with mediocre open world content.

The beginning of this year alone saw the release of quite a few Goty contenders

Hogwarts Legacy, I'd say, was on par with games like Gotham Knights: former live service game turned open-world-RPG-hybrid.

[lellkay]

I really enjoyed the game but it's a real tough year, so many great games.

[Kosic]

I'm surprised this didn't go anywhere. It's a treat new i.p with a strong set of gameplay mechanics, story and graphics.

Mario just came out. So how has that been nominated?

[ModsDoBetter]

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that public figures and industry people are largely scared of the alphabet mafia and wouldn't want to risk being assaulted by the twitter mob.

[cammers1995]

We already know why and it's because of JK Rowling's views and that's why the nominees didn't nominate the game. But the game did great and is adored anyways. 🤗💁‍♂️ All ports sold amazing and the game did fantastic despite those trans and their supporters trying to push back. And the sequel will do just as well. ❤️

[StarkR3ality]

Yeah it's getting crazy with this agenda these fascist groups have. Recently just had Insomniac making up their own version of Spanish and Italian to avoid using male and female pronouns. Imagine altering a language that has been around since the origins of Latin thousands of years ago and spoken by over 1 billion people, to avoid risking offending around 700,000 people looking at latest statistics world wide.

Society is crazy.

[StarkR3ality]

LCDTV+ community wins.

[Stanjara]

Nice, it took me a second. True...but people's wallets have spoken.

[anast]

They should have swapped it out with Zelda.

[PCgamer98]

I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with jk rowling.

[H9]

While the game was above average, if it wasn't a Harry Potter game it would have gotten nominated everyone, it's like every single action adventure out there, so how come this is the only one that doesn't get recognized, well we all know, The Game Awards and their crowd are notoriously into the propaganda

[Neonridr]

I feel like you could probably make a case for a second list of snubbed titles that would still be a pretty darned decent GOTY list.

[CrimsonWing69]

Man, it really is and you know it’s all political and disgusting that they can’t set aside being petty to celebrate an achievement with a game that actually does massive harm inclusion in it.

Hogwarts absolutely deserves to be recognized for the things it achieves. At least the sales are there for it.

[SpacedDuck]

I'll be honest, I forgot it came out this year to be honest. I really enjoyed the game and a TON of love went into making it but it sort of just blurred into everything else that came out.

Surprised it didn't get at least some type of nomination even if for just best game world or something as it was truly well designed.

[antikbaka]

it's because they got in all those traps

[RiseNShine]

We all know the reason for this, it has nothing to do with the quality of the game, and since these are the game awards, it's shameful and embarrasing, a true travesty of awards.

[AAWELLS09]

This was intentionally left out cause the loonies who were stomping their feet over something that had nothing to do with the devs.
It amazes me that there's a group within the industry who like to ignore and talk lots of sh*t about "toxic gamers" and write article after article trashing gamers as well as making full documentaries about them cause some of us don't want to be preached at in our favorite hobby. Those same people shoved their heads in the sand and acted as if they didn't witness some of the most grotesque behavior ever seen within the gaming space. That tells me that none of them are serious people with real morals. Toxicity is bad no matter what your beliefs are or which side of the political isle you land on and has to be called out when either "side" does it. The Game Awards should've stood tall and added Hogwarts no matter what the loons had to say. It awarded their behavior by leaving it out. Thats BS

[Barneyco]

Well said.

[Tzuno]

The game has you on the hook in the first hour just to be disappointed shortly after, goty my azz.

[jznrpg]

I think it’s worthy of being nominated at least.

Hogwarts came out earlier in the year and people generally focus on more recent games. It also works the other way sometimes where a game just released before the awards and is too close.

[Binarycode]

Disgusting tbh.

I'm guessing the twats in charge don't like J.K Rowling.

Alan wake 2 should not be on there. It's just the graphics and even those are overrated imo.

Super Mario Wonder is a Decent title, But not unlike the marios before it and yes I have it.

As nice as Res evil 4 is, it's a remake.that's been done before.

Spiderman 2 and zelda are great games, but following on from previous titles. Yes with graphical improvements and better quality in many area's. More spiderman wise imo.

The work imo that went into Hogwarts should easily make it a contender, The facial animations, the crafted world, great performance. Never encountered bugs in it, even if it doesn't win it.

I can't comment on baldurs gate as I haven't played it, it's not my type of game.

[drunkenspy007]

It was fun for a play through, but no replay-ability for me, too many repetitive similar challenges. It also only appeals to fans of Harry Potter, while there are many, it may not be for everyone.

[franwex]

If you’re a Harry Potter fan I guess it would be game of the year. But to a general gaming audience it feels more like a cool adventure game. Fun, but not game of the year.

[Petebloodyonion]

Why do ppl don't look at FAQ?
https://thegameawards.com/f...

things like: "Each voting outlet completes a confidential, unranked ballot based on the collective and diverse opinion of its entire editorial staff, listing out its top five choices in each category."

Or have a look at the jury member that compromise of ppl who basically took a stance against JKR.

And ppl still wonder why this game is MIA from all awards.

[Nintentional]

Never been a big fan of Harry Potter, but I am a fan of JK Rowling and common sense. Probably why it wasn’t nominated is because of liberal leftist politics. Anywho I also think Mario Wonder was overrated garbage. Absolutely don’t think it’s anywhere on par with past 8bit, 16bit 2D Mario games, and even NSMB Wii was much better. Only put 5 hours into the game and got 60 gimmick seeds, I mean wonderseeds*

[Reaper22_]

I don't know why people are so up in arms about this. The game awards have been a joke for years. Most people only watch for the new game announcements or surprise announcements.

[babadivad]

We all know why it wasn't nominated...

[Ninver]

Yeah i was extremely surprised about it. The game is fantastic and well acclaimed. There must be an agenda of some sort against it.

[cammers1995]

The trans creatures and their supporters caused it to lose the nomination for sure but thankfully it sold great and will be getting a sequel and is still selling. Keep crying about it. 💁‍♂️